OLD CLOTHES. WHO WE WERE. 17 



"Be kind enough to look at your watch, my honest, 

 ci\ ili/ed friend, and then make a note of it that in an hour 

 \vt- >hall IK- out of this place for good;" and as he spoke, 

 I>en-on tumbled his bundle of old clothes and boots out 

 upon the Poor and began his hunt for the gray woolen 

 shirt he had brought for me. Looking at my watch 1 

 found it wa- -not quite half past four o'clock, and even 

 two hour.- later I knew no stray acquaintance of mine 

 would be likely to >tro)| down the street. 



I had forgotten how disheartening an abandoned 

 >uit of old, worn out, du>lv, creased and shrunken clothes 

 can be, until I surveyed myself and saw how wholly 

 unpresentable I had become. My personality seemed 

 chan-ed. I wa- not entirely certain that I was honest. I 

 I didn't know Imt the next moment 1 should break out in 

 profanity. As for the serene Self-respect of an American 

 citi/.en who had helped eleet ;i member of Congre I h.id 



next t MIC of it; for did I not bear all seinblaner to a 



moderately abased beggar? and did not my very appear- 

 ance consign me to social oblivion ': and would any 

 respectable church in the land permit me to sit in its pewsV 



However, it was early in the morning. 1 was in the 

 privacy which the early riser in the city enjoys, and I was 

 wholly reassured by the nondescript appearance of the rest 

 of the party to whom 1 was speedily presented. Besides, 

 as a psychological fact, 1 observed that my individuality 

 gradually reasserted itself, and in an hour I was quite as 

 honest, a- careful of my morals, and just as much a 

 gentleman, despite appearances, as if 1 had worn linen and 



